Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 12 February 2014
95. Deputy Kevin Humphreys asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide a list of all specific new powers or functions conferred on local authorities by legislation under her area since June 2009 and a reference to the specific section or regulation in each case; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7037/14]
View answerThere is a high level of interaction between local authorities and the Department of Social Protection in the provision of housing assistance. For instance, the Rent Supplement scheme administered by the Department of Social Protection provides short-term income support to eligible people living in private rented accommodation, whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source. A number of eligibility criteria apply to the Rent Supplement, including a requirement that the applicant must be assessed by a local authority as being in need of social housing support in accordance with the Housing Acts.
In general, the social welfare legislation does not confer specific powers or functions on local authorities in relation to the provision of housing assistance. However, section 265 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005, inter alia, enables local authorities to share information with other State bodies and agencies for the purposes of assessing a person's housing needs and allocating local authority accommodation. These provisions were amended by section 8 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and were brought into effect by the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 (Commencement) Order 2010 (S.I. No. 253 of 2010) and the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 (Commencement) Order 2011 (S.I. No. 83 of 2011).
While the amendments contained in the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 updated relevant references to provisions contained in the Housing Acts, they did not make any substantive change in the existing powers provided for in section 265 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005.
Section 15 of the Social Welfare Act 2012 introduced a new household budgeting arrangement whereby local authority tenants who are in receipt of a social welfare payment may agree to have a portion of their social welfare payment withheld and paid to the local authority in respect of their rent. Once a person participates in this household budgeting arrangement, that person cannot withdraw from such agreement without the consent of the relevant local authority. However, the consent of the local authority cannot be unreasonably withheld in these circumstances.
These new arrangements were introduced with effect from 1 January 2014 by way of the Social Welfare Act 2012 (Section 15) (Commencement Order) 2013 (S.I. No. 579 of 2013) and the Social Welfare (Consolidated Claims, Payments and Control) (Amendment) (No. 11) (Budgeting in Relation to Social Welfare Payments) Regulations 2013 (S.I. No. 580 of 2013).
